Ethan's POV Layla held Aria's hand as they walked through the toys section of the mall, happily grabbing everything that caught Aria's eyes. It was good to be free again, to not be watching over our backs. It had been two months since Sedar was finally caught and even know it still felt unreal. He was such a nuisance for so long it was weird with him gone. All the drama we went through because of him. I remember Layla suggesting we go to Nicole out of desperation and frustration and to be honest I was about to give in but I knew good would come of exchanging oke devil for another. We decided to not go that far and I was grateful we didn't, unfortunately even if we wanted to it was too late. Layla got a call from a family about two weeks later that Nicole had ended her own life. The warden said she was constantly screaming to be let out and that someone should call me or Layla but they didn't because that was unreasonable. A while after she hung herself. Layla was frozen to t
(Layla's Pov)The soft morning light slipped through my window. I blinked my eyes, stretching my arms as I sat up. “Ugh… It's time to wake up, Layla.” I put on a smile while I got out of the bed.“It's going to be another hectic day,” I sighed, looking at my reflection in the mirror before I went to clean up.“Miss Layla, the breakfast is ready,” the servant claimed, knocking on my door.“I'm going!” I replied, and hurried to dress myself.However, as soon as I opened the door, and walked out of the room, Nicole brushed against my shoulders knowingly.Not again. I sighed inwardly, turning around to escape the situation when she pulled my sleeves, and smirked sarcastically.“You look as pale as a ghost.” She sneered, looking up and down at me when I shook my head. “Did you just wake up?” She gasped, enlarging her eyes when I pouted my lips. “Yeah, you don't have any work to do unlike me so, you don't care about when you wake up.”I smiled, matching her eye to eye, “It's just that I pre
Three seconds. No, no, no. I think five seconds was all I needed to realize what this jerk in front of me was doing. As I managed to pull back and recreate the separation distance, I collapsed onto the cold marble floor.I haven't had time to scream for help and he's already pulled my arm roughly, slamming my body onto the bed before laying back down on me.The scream that came out of my mouth was so loud that the man covered one ear. He repeatedly cursed me with harsh words to tell me to be quiet. Even so, I kept trying to escape. Until I kicked his side. The man whimpered in pain as he collapsed on the floor. Not forgetting the swearing and eyes glaring right at me.When I saw an opportunity to escape, I quickly got out of bed despite my unsteady state. I fell because the man's hand managed to grab my ankle, but I pushed him so hard that I managed to reach the door and get out of that horrible room!I gasped, not knowing where to go. The hotel hallway felt so deserted and long as if
It felt like there was a big hammer hitting my head repeatedly making the pain more and more uncontrollable in all parts of my head. The situation around me seemed to be spinning around making it difficult for me to just wake up my body. I repeatedly blinked my eyes hoping that the pain in my head would decrease. When I felt my surroundings return to silence, I realized that the ceiling above my head felt unfamiliar. Then another reality struck me, this was not my bedroom!As I sat up, I realized that underneath the blanket I was wearing, only a tattered shirt was still clinging to my body. What happened last night?Even more shocking, it made me clamp my hand over my mouth to keep from screaming out loud. I saw a shirtless man sleeping beside me. He was lying on his stomach without me being able to see his face clearly because he was facing sideways.Who is he? Why am I here without clothes with a strange man?I whimpered as the pain in my head returned. Although the pain still ruled
I continued to grip my hands which were already sweating from nerves. We had just entered the hotel lobby and my father was talking to the security there. He asked if we could look at the CCTV footage from last night to find the culprit who had drugged me.I didn't know what to do to stop my father while Nicole kept inciting my father to look at the CCTV and catch the culprit.Not long after, security came back and told us that we could see the CCTV footage but only with him present. We then went to the surveillance room area. Two officers were monitoring the monitor.The security guard who escorted us explained what happened. They were trying to find the CCTV footage of when the incident happened.I didn't dare say anything when a recording showed me being carried by a man. The man who had slept with me last night. But how shocked I was when my father didn't feel angry at all. It was Nicole who turned angry."Dad?" I asked with concern."So you were with Ethan last night?" my father
After dinner that day, all the days I'd gone through seemed so heavy. When my father kept urging me to take care of choosing the wedding ring and the dress I would wear later. Meanwhile, every time I sent a message to Ethan, he always argued that he was busy and couldn't accompany me. In the end, he only sent me a few sample photos of wedding rings, asking me to choose one of them. I even went to the boutique to try on my wedding dress without him.Like a fool. Forcing myself to smile when I was so hurt inside. Just like me, I'm sure Ethan didn't like the idea of this wedding either.One month passed quickly. I was in the hotel room alone. Our wedding was being held in a five-star luxury hotel. Inviting every important colleague from each side of the bride and groom.I wanted so badly to escape from this one-sided marriage. I couldn't imagine living with a man I didn't love at all. How would our married life be, how would he treat me? Would I be happy married to him?All these questio
Layla’s PovI threw the bouquet of flowers into the air, watching the young girls catch it. How could they want this thing called marriage? Right now, I was probably the most miserable person in the world. Notwithstanding, I maintained the plastered smile on my face and curtseyed ever so often as big shots from various 5-star companies came to congratulate us. I glanced up at Ethan. His firm jaw and well carved out features looked as stunning as they did in the pictures. His arms were linked through mine, as we got into the limousine, portraying the image of a loving husband. If he was planning on fooling those people, then I had to give it to him, he made a fine actor. I on the other hand had gotten a glimpse of the real devil that he was. I could even feel him glaring at me from the corner of his eyes. Once we got into the car, he let go of me and leaned against the window. The look in his eyes were quite readable. As far as he was concerned, I didn't exist anymore. I frowned.
LAYLA’S POV“Mistress,”My eyes fluttered open. I sat up on the king sized bed. Sunlight streamed in from the open window casting a warm glow on my face. Rubbing my eyes, I wondered where I was. One thing was certain, I had woken up from a terrible dream. But wait... It wasn't a dream. Last I remembered, I was sobbing on the ground, the footsteps of that terrible man sounding in my head. It was settled then, I was the legal wife of the Ethan Crawford, the fucking CEO of some company. “Mistress,” I heard again. Standing at the door was a young lady, not much older than I, with short auburn hair and a plain white dress with black polkadots. She must be a maid. “It's alright, you can come in.” “You were in a bad state yesterday. We took you to this room to recuperate. But your things aren't here yet, you can still choose any of the rooms to stay in.” She said keeping her head low. “I'm your lady in waiting, America.” She said with a curtsey. “Is he always like that?” I asked sudd
Ethan's POV Layla held Aria's hand as they walked through the toys section of the mall, happily grabbing everything that caught Aria's eyes. It was good to be free again, to not be watching over our backs. It had been two months since Sedar was finally caught and even know it still felt unreal. He was such a nuisance for so long it was weird with him gone. All the drama we went through because of him. I remember Layla suggesting we go to Nicole out of desperation and frustration and to be honest I was about to give in but I knew good would come of exchanging oke devil for another. We decided to not go that far and I was grateful we didn't, unfortunately even if we wanted to it was too late. Layla got a call from a family about two weeks later that Nicole had ended her own life. The warden said she was constantly screaming to be let out and that someone should call me or Layla but they didn't because that was unreasonable. A while after she hung herself. Layla was frozen to t
Layal's POV"Okay." Annabeth's weak response came from the other side of the phone. Thank heavens maybe my little speech had knocked some sense into her."Okay? so you'll come stay here right?" "Not yet, I'll stay with a friend for a while. I want to stay with you guys but I can't risk messing up your lives even more." she sounded tired and I decided to let this matter rest for now. "Which friend?, where's Derek?", he had taken her home but he never called back so I guessed he was still with her."He left a while ago."He left?! Could he be any more of an asshole. He comes, drops a bomb like that leaves the two of us in a mess and then just drops her at home to be by herself. What was all the love talk about if this was all he could do. "He left you like this?" I was really starting to direct the anger i fel towards Derek, which obviously wouldn't end well. "It's not like that, i asked him to leave me alone. He kept apologizing when he wasn't at fault and I knew letting him see me
Layla's POV Watching Annabeth leave felt like my world came crashing down on me. I couldn't believe my eyes when Derek showed me that picture, immediately my mind clicked and made the connection it was like my brain just went into autopilot. It felt like the cinema all over again, realizing that Sedar had been so close to me again, I had been so close to death. I was thankful for Ethan who caught me before I fell, God knows him being there was what helped me calm myself down. Then Annabeth had started her meltdown, I had expected a shocked reaction but not something of that intensity, she looked like we just told her, her entire life was a lie. "Annabeth wait." When I had tried to grab her when she dashed upstairs she basically pushed me away and snatched Cho. My reaction to that was slow, what had I done wrong? I was in as much shock and disorientation she was feeling so why was I the one getting this reaction from her. To be honest I was disappointed that Ethan just stood ther
Ethan's POVI watched silent as Annabeth took a pause from her episode took a breathe and look at us, she seemed more composed but still rattled up. "I've got to leave." She said I shot off up the stairs"Why? Where are you going?" Layla called after her and follow her up.I turned to Derek, in less than a minute he'd wreak absolutely havoc on us all. This is why I didn't involve Layla in my conversation with Lucas, I didn't see her as weak, no but I also knew that certain matters are delicate so they should be handled delicately. "When did you figure it out?" "Last night. I was going to tell you guys first but..." I raised a hand to cut him off, it didn't matter if he wanted to tell us earlier or not what did matter was that we had found Sedar and he was awfully closer than we thought, this entire time."Wait, just wait." The sound of a door shutting and hurried steps called out attention. Annabeth was basically running down the steps with Cho is her arms, she was leaving with h
Ethan's POVI could hear the noise increasing slowly from downstairs, I had warned Layla this would happen. I tried to ignore it at first but then they had to be shouting for me to be hearing them this clearly. I put my laptop aside, stretched my limbs and walked downstairs. I got there to find Layla, Derek and Annabeth sitting round the dinner table, Layla's eyes were already in my direction by the time I reached them. She had most likely heard me coming. The discomfort they were putting her through was very evident on her face. I was already pretty much irritated, trying to work and being disturb by meaningless quarrel was very annoying. "I warned you." I said in my head as I looked at Layla, I was definitely going to rub this in her face later."You two know you're in another man's house right? A man who's trying to get work done and who has kids upstairs." They both shut and sat frozen with their eyes fixed on me. Personally I would have just kicked them out there and then. I
Layla's POV"It's nothing really, I just felt like maybe he was right" she waved her hand dismissively."Who?" "Derek", shit what had he said again"What did he say again?" I felt my fist instinctively clench, I was starting to feel like Annabeth was actually right in this. "Again, nah he said it when he brought you over to my place. That you had issues too and I was acting like my man drama was the center of the world." She looked to the side, it was obvious she was hurt by it.That was too much, this had gotten way too much. "Give me a second." I grabbed my phone and marched upstairs."Where are you going?" "I'll be right back." I barged into the room and Ethan looked at me confused."What's gotten into you?" "I'm going to interfere. I'm calling Derek to come over right now so I can settle whatever this is that they have going on." His eyes widened in shock and he shook his head, "Don't Layla. You sure you want to be in the cross hairs of whatever it is they have going on?"
Layla's POVThe house had been on lockdown for the past two days, yes, because of Sedar and also because Ethan was an overly protective person. Did I like being locked up in here all day? No. Could I do anything about it? Also no. All that could be done was wait it out and pray it needed soon. Ethan also worked from home to keep me company and lessen the agony of my situation. I told him numerous times that he could go to work and I'd just ask Annabeth to come over but I guess he saw through that lie. I was just looking for a way to get him out of the house so I could sneak out. His maid, America brought us all of the groceries and supplies we needed so there was no way to use needing to go shopping as an excuse. It was nice to be cared for but this was pretty much the same feeling that made me move out in the first place, unfortunately this time that wasn't an option."What is on your mind?" Ethan asked, this question snapped me back into the reality, I looked around, yep still stu
Ethan's POVI watched her step into Derek's car and drive off, I didn't exactly like the idea of her being out in the open after seeing Sedar stalking us but there was no winning an argument with Layla, the best I could do was give her a curfew to be back home. I called Lucas when she left, she was right about us needing to find the leak in our whereabouts that Sedar was tracking is with. "Didn't we just get off the phone?" He said sarcastically."I'm calling about Sedar. Again." "Did he show up again?" "No, but you remember how we talked about finding out how he knew where we were. Well Layla has a theory about it, she thinks it has something to do with Annabeth. Apparently all the times Sedar has showed up unexpectedly were when she went to places she'd already told Annabeth she was going to." "Was Annabeth the only one she told? That's a pretty wild assumption." He sounded skeptical, which was reasonable. Even I thought it was a shaky suspicion."No but she's the only common p
Layla's POV "What do you want me to say. Oh hey don't date whoever that creep is. I love you. Is that it?" I just stared at him, what the heck was that? So what he loved her now?. He stared back at me like a moron and then his expression softened and I took as a sign he realized he'd just lashed out at the wrong person."I am sorry." He did his puppy dog eyes look."I'd love to say it's fine but it's nothing, you two really need to take a minute and sit down to talk." The rest of the ride was absolutely silence, he walked me to the door and kept apologizing for the way he acted but all I did was nod. "What happened between you two?" Ethan saw the look on my face when I stepped in."More like what the heck is happening between two of them" I threw my bag on the couch and fell into his arms "Who are we talking about right now?" "Derek and Annabeth." "Oh, those two. Wait, they're still at it? I thought it would be over by now. Aren't they taken it a bit too far?" Even Ethan notice